CONDENSED CABLE NEWS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume V, Issue 1489, 20 November 1918, Page 7

CONDENSED CABLE NEWS.

ITEMS FROM MANY QUARTERS. The American Government control of all marine cable systems has been authorised by proclamation. The cable companies violently object to Government ownership. The Admiralty announces that the j Naval censorship will be removed from noon on November 20. A portion of the A >erican Army has entered Belgium. The remainder is marching towards the German frontier. ] The Governor of New South Wales, in a speech, declared that there was no need to heed the German whines addressed to America about food supplies. They were simply a try on in order to repudiate the liability for an indemnity. He did not believe that the Prussians had done with the Kaiser. They would attempt to bring him or his grandson back later. These things were only a fix-up. They ought to watch them with the greatest care. The State Department at Washington has warned the public that there is every evidence of German agents in the United States endeavouring to bias the American mind in favour of easy terms for Germany at the peace table. There has been a resumption of-many organisations of a pacifist and pro-German nature, and it is apparent that they are endeavouring to bring pressure to bear on the people's representatives to seek to modify the Allies' determination. The Soviet at Strassburg auctioned war material. Bidding was. very siow. Kifles brought a franc each, machineguns five francs, nn aeroplane 125 francs.. A Zeppelin was offered for 300 francs, but there were no buyers. A meeting in Berlin, representing the First Army Corps and 100 other regiments, demanded the immediate convocation of the National Assembly. The Luxemburg Chamber carried a resolution demanding that a referendum be taken regarding the future form of State Socialism. A motion demanding a republic was rejected. Diplomatic advices state that the Chancellor, Ilerr Ebert, has virtually dissolved the Reichstag, and will permit no sitting pending the convocation of tho Constituent Assembly. The State Department at Washington does not regard seriously the question whether or not the Kaiser has gone through the official form of abdication. Washington never had an official notice of his abdication, but assumed that his flight and the subsequent disintegration of Prussia and German principalities were such, as to make abdication a reality. The "Chicago News" Stockholm correspondent states that according to the latest figures 831 Norwegian vessels and 1020 lives, and 178 Swedish vessels and 248 lives, were lost through German U-boats. The Norwegian tonnage loss amounts to 1,238,000 tons, and the Swedish loss to 200,370 tons. The Voters' Association in North Schleswig has decided to take a referendum on the question of whether to remain German or rejoin Denmark. Dr »Solf intimated his assent to the referendum, and added that Denmark had been asked if she were willing to take over the territory. The War Office announces that Russians and British occupied Baku on November 17. The Press Bureau stales: —The Maharajah of Bikancr, with Sir Satycndra I'rassano Sinha, will attend the Imperial War Cabinet preparatory to the Peace Conference. The United Press Association Washington correspoudeul states thai according to Tokyo advices the Japanese Ambassadors in Loudon and Paris are uajned as Peace Kiiyoa s. >tnt is estimated that at the end of nonth iialian wheat sur■j.ltfs \v*SJI total <>5,2(i(>,000 bushels, to which Lie exportable surplus of 70>000,000 bushels may be added. The total is equivalent to' 4.427,000. tons, requiring i) 00 vessels of 5000 tons each to remove it. peter Simonoff, representing the ■Russian Bolsheviks, lias' been fined £IOO in Sydney on two charges of addressing meetings in contravention of the War Precautions Art. The prosei mien aliened deliberately attempted' to institute a campaign analogous to the Bolshevik agitation in Pussia. The New South Wales Cabinet has decided to introduce a revised Venereal Bill, making the disease notifiable and prohibiting any but qualified practitioners from treating it. It is reported in Sydney that an English Company is being formed, with a capital of £5,000.000, to start the c-npper industry at Newcastle. The departure of the steamers Auto and Moeraki from Sydney is indefinitely postponed, as no crews are available. An agitation is a fool, in Sydney to repatriate interned Germans. Many unions are in fax our of getting rid of undesirables. Mr Reginald Lloyd, of Sydney, recently wrote to Mr Ilandley Page, detailing an aerial project to cover tho

distance from Sydney to London in 150 flying hours. Mr Handley Page cabled a reply that the scheme was quite practicable. The Australian Cricket Association has received a cable message from the Marylebone Club suggesting that a team of Australians who had served in the war should tour England next season. When the German soldiers were demoobilising, large numbers abandoned their arms or sold their rifles, machineguns and grenades to Belgian civilians. |At Brussels an enormous quantity of ' arms and ammunition is now in the hands of Belgian labourers. The Soldiers' Council ordered the civilians to surrender the arms. There was practically no response, and serious trouble is anticipated at Antwerp when the last German soldiers leave. M. Troelstra (the Socialist deputy), in a speech in Parliament at Amsterdam, said it was not intended to carry out a coup d'etat or use force to execute the revolutionary programme. The announcement created a sensation, and was evidently due to military activity against the revolutionaries. In the House of Commons, Mr Bonar Law declined to say whether the terms to Germany included the repayment of the net cost of the war incurred by the Allies. It is estimated that there are 200,000 mines still in Home waters. The existing minesweepers will be kept as a unit of the Navy until the danger is removed. The Adelaide tram strike has ended. The men have returned on the old status.